Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki is not your typical finance book filled with charts, jargon, and boring equations. It’s more like sitting down over coffee with someone who has lived two completely different financial lives at the same time. Kiyosaki grew up with two father figures: his own “Poor Dad,” who was well-educated, hardworking, and believed in the traditional path of getting a good job, earning a steady paycheck, and saving money in the bank; and his friend’s “Rich Dad,” who didn’t have as much formal education but understood money, investing, and business in a way that created real wealth. Throughout his youth, Kiyosaki noticed how these two men thought and acted in completely opposite ways when it came to work, money, and life.
From Poor Dad, he learned the value of education and stable employment—but also the limitations of relying solely on a paycheck. From Rich Dad, he learned that the truly wealthy don’t just work for money; they make money work for them. Rich Dad taught him the importance of buying assets—things that put money in your pocket—rather than liabilities, which take money out. Assets could be things like investments, rental properties, or businesses, while liabilities could be things like car loans, expensive gadgets bought on credit, or a big mortgage that eats away at your income.
The book emphasizes that financial education is something schools rarely teach, so it’s up to you to learn about money, investing, and markets. Kiyosaki stresses that it’s not about how much you earn but how much you keep, and whether your money is growing for you. He also believes in working to learn rather than just working to earn—choosing jobs or opportunities that teach valuable skills like sales, negotiation, leadership, and investing, even if the immediate paycheck isn’t huge.
At its heart, Rich Dad Poor Dad is about mindset. It challenges the idea that the only way to success is through a secure job and a retirement plan. Instead, it encourages you to think like an investor and entrepreneur—to take calculated risks, build streams of income, and escape the cycle of trading time for money. It’s not a get-rich-quick manual but a guide to changing how you see money and the possibilities it can bring. By comparing the lessons of his two “dads,” Kiyosaki shows that wealth is less about luck or high salaries and more about financial literacy, smart investing, and the courage to break away from the old rules.